The Portland daily press., 1887-11-14
MRS. RELcHER's WILL.
Or. Cheney Continues His Testimony
Saturday Forenoon.
He Tells Something Further About
the Making OF the VIII.
The Arguments Of Counsel to be
Made Today.


At the coming in Of court Saturday morn
ing the testimony Of DR.. Cheney was contln-
ued, as follows: "At the time Of the writing
of the will the question came up who should
write 1t. / believe | suggested to Mrs.
Beleher that she had better call in Mr.. Cliff
ford Belcher, as he had done good Ideal Of
business for her. l think / also suggested
Francis Gould Butler, Timothy S. Belcher
or Allen Currier, the persons / had named
before. She said she would prefer that l
should write it. and asked me some ques-
| tions about how will should be made. |
know she asked me II 1t was necessary that
! the subscribing witnesses should know the
contents of the will. told her / thought
not She asked me II she made will one
day she would have the right to make anoth-
er the next day. l told her she could make
| as many wills as she pleased. in my opinion,
and that the last one would hold. She asked
me some other questions that don't remem-
| Der now. but those are fresh In my recollec-
tion. told her would prefer that some
other person should write the will. but II it
was her wish would. Before the writing
/ Ol Luc Will ilduu oOuip odbbNotAoho obOas
| the objects she should favor. In our conver-
sation she asked me what thought OF the
Maine Central Institute, Free Baptist In
| stitution, fitting school at Pittsfeld. l
| think she said that the agent OF that institu-
tion had called upon her and wanted her to
subscribe something for the institution. She
asked me what / thought Of II. told her
/ was one Of the trustees Of the institution,
| and thought well Of it, and thought we'll Of
her doing something for it. II she was dis
posed to do so. 1 do not remember her reply
In the same connection l said perhaps she
might desire to remember the Free Baptist
church in Pennington, as their house Of
worship needed some repairs, and she re-
piled, what do for the Free Baptist Soeie-
ty can do while | live
"After had written the win read it 10
Mrs. Belcher, and she then took 1t from my
hand. / did not see itagain until she brought
1t into the room and laid ii upon the table at
the time ii was executed. L am not certain
Of the time Of day when / wrote the will; it
is my impression that it was in the forenoon.
| From the time il was written until 1t was ex-
ecuted she had it in her possession, so far
as knew"
Witness here testified as to the selection Of
witnesses and the signing Of the will.
"Mrs. Belcher took the will after 1t was
executed, and l did not see 1t again until the
time she made the codicil The codicil Is
dated Sept. 8. 1888. Between Aug, 0, 1877.
the date Of the will, and Sept 8, 1888, the
will remained in Mrs. Belcher's possession.
so far as know. did not see it in thattime,
and did not know where ID was. made no
suggestion to Mrs. Belcher about keeping
private the fact that the will had been made.
She requested me not to say anything about
it. She wished me to say to Mr.. Butler and
his wife and have il said to the third sub
scrlbing witness that she did not wish to
have any talk made about 1t. She said, Il
never meddle with ether peoples business,
and / don't want any person TO meddle with
mine: the property Is mine, and have a
right to do what pease with it, She said
that IL had come from Hiram, and he had
told her to keep II together as long as she
lived, and then do what she pleased with It. I"
| After testifying 10 making a few visits 10
| Mrs Belcher after the making OF the viii,
the witness said: "In those visits did not
propose any changein her win or suggest it.
was there in 1888, after she had nearly
recovered from her sickness in that year. /
am not certain how learned Of that illness,
whether through Mr.. MeCleery, a reporter
OF the Boston Journal, or through the ex.
press agent between Pennington and Lew.
| iston, or through my sOn-in-law, the agent
of the express company in Lewiston. After
learned of her sickness went to Farming
ton; / think 1t was in April went TO Farm
ington, and went directly to- Mrs. Becher's
That was after she was much better. was
admitted by Mrs Holley, and had few
minutes conversation with Mrs Belcher.
She asked me to stop to tea, but declined.
As was leaving she requested me to call in
the morning. called in the morning; had
hardly entered when Drs. True and Lyford
called on professional visit and | went
away, Mrs. Belcher' requesting that should
call in the afternoon. l think l met Miss
Higgins on the street near the door in the
afternoon and asked when would be proper
time for me to call, and she said at about 3
o'clock. l called at 3, and Mrs. Holley said
that Mrs. Belcher had been without sleep
and that she was nervous, and l said that II
that was so would not call, and returned
home.
~ had some conversation with Mrs. Bel
cher about her relatives. / think 1t was at
the time of the making Of the codlcil. She
said that she wanted to make some change
in her will, repeating the substance Of what
she said to me before, and then she said
there had been strange state Of things In
the house; that her nephews ana pieces had
taken possession of the government Of the
house and care Of herself, to the exclusion
| of Miss Higgins. / think had seen Mrs.
Belcher twice between the time / was there
| when the doctors came and the time when
the codicil was made; think | was there
about month before the cOdicil was made
| She then wanted me to come up very soon
and write the eodicil for her. / went to
Pennington the night befole the codicll was
| made. / think / remained at Mrs Belcher's
that night. hardly think the codicil was
mentioned until the next day. II was then
| written in the same room In which the will
was written. Mrs. Belcher and myself were
| In that room together when 1t was written.
Mrs. Belcher directed as to the writing Of
that instrument. During the writing made
the same suggestion that made az the time
the will was written in regard to her doing
something for the Free Baptist Society, and
| then suggested that perhaps she might wish
to remember Miss Higgins in her will. She
did not follow those suggections. After the
codcl was written read II to Mrs. Bechel
and She took it. She kept it until it wa
brought into the room to be executed. She
said she would like the same persons thai
witnessed the will TO witness the codicil.
went to Mr.. Buffers, but he was absent from
home. Mrs. Beleher then requested me t.
get Mr. Brackett the Register Of Deeds, and
his wife, and to request Mr.. Bracket &c
select third witness, which l did, The
witnesses came that evening. was In tht
room when they came, and Mrs. Belchel
came in Immediately afterward with the
codieil. She said that that was codicll e
her last will and testament, and she desired
them to witness her signature to 1t
: | she Lnen signed IL IN lnclI pres
ence and they signed as subscribing wit
nesses, and the witnesses soon went away
In speaking about the custody OF the vii
and codicil Mrs. Beleher said, as | have
stated before, that her nephews and neice
| had taken possession of the house, and sh
said it was reported they had gotten posses
sion of her keys and examined her papers
. | but she thought they could not have gottel
possession of her keys for her papers seeme'
| to be all right. Her will was there and sh'
( | desired that should take the will and codi
Gil and put them in a place for safe keeping
| that reports had gone out that the Will has
| been read, or her papers had been disturbed
but she thought everything was all safe anC
| right, and she desired | should take posses
sion OF the will and codicil."
DIR. Cheney then described what step
were taken by him after the death Of Mrs
Belcher 10 care for the estate, acting unde
the advice Of counsel.
: ss"During all my visits TO Mrs. Belcher
! was received kindly and treated warmly as
, friend. / never observed in her any sign o
: impatienee, or any want of interest in tn
subject to which / referred. She alway
urged me to call and see her, and wouli
: sometimes say that il had been long tim
4 IL. 4 h..A fhar Aha aatsff no,